We can't become desensitized to violence

We all know a mass shooting is a horrible tragedy. We see it on TV, we feel for the families, and we keep saying "not again."

But by now, we've seen it so often we have almost become numb to the violence in the nation.

No, this will not be another anti-gun diatribe. If the Newtown massacre of 20 children didn't spur our lawmakers to fight the gun lobby and enact sensible gun control, you have to wonder what will.

But hopefully, in the wake of the horrible tragedy at the Washington Navy Yard, we don't lose our ability to be angry and disgusted and search for some kind of answers.

Some of the mass shootings affect our national psyche more than others, but the pattern seems the same. There will be massive media coverage, politicians will express outrage, and then we'll all go about our lives.

And the more these shootings happen, the more desensitized we become — and the more we unfortunately accept these tragedies as the price of living in America.

Just two months ago, a gunman in Hialeah killed six people. Last year, we had 12 shot to death at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colo. There were seven killed at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. Seven killed at a college in Oakland, Calif. Eight people shot to death at a hair salon in California.

These are just a fraction of the mass shootings since 2011. Before that we had Columbine and Virginia Tech and Fort Hood and the Amish school house and Northern Illinois University and Gabby Giffords and an immigration center shooting in Binghamton, N.Y. in which 13 people died.

A few years back, a shooting in which a couple of people died would have stunned us. A mass murder was unthinkable. Now, if the death toll doesn't reach double figures, it's almost another day in America.

And that's the real danger.

We must as a nation look for solutions, rather than just accepting the violence.

Whether it involves more access to mental health screenings, whether it involves teaching employees to be alert early to the signs of problems with co-workers, whether it involves more security at the workplace, whether it involves tighter access to our military facilities, we must look for answers.

Tighter gun restrictions should be part of the process. But just this month, two state legislators in Colorado — the site of the Columbine and Aurora shootings — were recalled because they supported stronger gun legislation. That show of power by the gun lobby will scare off plenty of public officials.

But it shouldn't scare off the public from demanding their elected officials seriously look for answers, rather than just expressing outrage for the television cameras.

We can let horrors like what happened at the Washington Navy Yard simply pass from our consciousness and go on to other things. Until the next mass shooting.